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Socceroos vs USA 2026 World Cup match thread 🇦🇺 🇺🇸

Despite it all the US scored off an own goal and a dubious off-side call.

Maybe Popa's plans was to see out the first half and then go at them in the second.

In any case I think we're better when we come out to play from the off, rather than when we chase a result, or expect to flick a switch in the second half. I'd rather we score first and score early.
 
Ange's high line said:
Popa did himself as well as Australia a big disservice with this match, not enough emphasis on attack in the first half, again another slow start unfortunately.
The likes of Ksnorbo, Aloisi or Corica are more balanced with attack and defence.
Ange did the opposite by not regarding defence and set pieces as important enough to spend more time on.
He's not getting work at those levels as he is not trustworthy enough to hire, is the vibe I'm getting. He's too invested in the Puskas style of just attack to be trusted.
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I don't want Postecoglou managing our NT again. I think he'd be even worse now with his bigger profile as the oppo managers know his way of playing very well and how to counter it.
 
Lucky that Balogun didn't score when he was clean through and bizarrely took too long to get his shot away. Could have looked even worse for Popa.
 
There was a through ball around 54min when Balogun would've been through about 30m from goal but stepped on it.

He was oddly slow for the breakaway compared to the goal where Circati couldn't keep up.
 
Watching the replay our chances were really just on a prayer. I wish Souttar had hit it but it probably would've been blocked not to mention Metcalfe pushed someone.
 
JS96 said:
Watching the replay our chances were really just on a prayer. I wish Souttar had hit it but it probably would've been blocked not to mention Metcalfe pushed someone.
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I think if we didnt concede and we bring on irankunda while they are still chasing a goal it could have been dangerous. Not to be

I get he needed to rotate after he said they didnt look like they had recovered in time (tho that leads to further questions but anyway)

But we needed another speedster in the front 3. I wish we saw behich at lwb and bos at lw
 
I haven’t seen anything mentioned about out attacking corners, which I feel in the last few matches have just been wasted. We insist on floating corners in to the far post looking for Souttar to head back across goal. The problem with this is that the floated corners give the defence too much time to reposition themselves and track runners, and block attacking runs. Very few teams at the top level float comers in anyone, they are generally whipped in to a greater or lesser extent. The Socceroos did this in the past with reasonable success.
 
Keeper66 said:
I haven’t seen anything mentioned about out attacking corners, which I feel in the last few matches have just been wasted. We insist on floating corners in to the far post looking for Souttar to head back across goal. The problem with this is that the floated corners give the defence too much time to reposition themselves and track runners, and block attacking runs. Very few teams at the top level float comers in anyone, they are generally whipped in to a greater or lesser extent. The Socceroos did this in the past with reasonable success.
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Part of it is who is playing. Only 3 players score from corners regularly in the entire squad, souttar herrington and irvine. With just souttar on the pitch, its obvious the ball is going to him so i guess they float it to him looking for a second ball?
 
Keeper66 said:
I haven’t seen anything mentioned about out attacking corners, which I feel in the last few matches have just been wasted. We insist on floating corners in to the far post looking for Souttar to head back across goal. The problem with this is that the floated corners give the defence too much time to reposition themselves and track runners, and block attacking runs. Very few teams at the top level float comers in anyone, they are generally whipped in to a greater or lesser extent. The Socceroos did this in the past with reasonable success.
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Well - I have mentioned in whichever thread to mix up delivery re corners.
Not rocket science it’s the same every single time as mentioned.
I said how about Souttar running to towards front post now and then deliver the ball there so he can meet flick it in bugga the lottery second ball.
 
Goodwin should have been included. He's a fine football with a good tight space passing game. If Leckie can go with that fitness then Goodwin would've been fine. A terrible precident has been set by Popovic.
 
Keeper66 said:
We insist on floating corners in to the far post looking for Souttar to head back across goal.
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That's why I wasn't too fussed when he was out for a while. I mean when we were playing Bangladesh ( I think ) in Canberra we were doing the same thing, using him as a sole attacking outlet.
 
I’ve decided I am not going to dwell on the USA game. We know Popa got his tactics and selection wrong. Learn from it and move on quickly. Just please… Irankunda and Volpato must start every game from now on.

But what I will say is… if you had told me 2 weeks ago that we only needed to draw against Paraguay to snag second place in the group, I would have taken it. Don’t let it slip.
 
zimbos05 said:
If anything, this just proves Popa is out of his depth. People may have expected us not to win, but that does not mean that not winning is ok. The US did not really create much from open play. Their two goals came from our own errors, and from mistakes made by the tactics put on the pitch.

I wouldn't say he has delivered exactly what it says on the tin. He delivered beyond expectation in the 1st game, but in the 2nd got it horribly wrong. Based on the balance of play, we could have taken the US, and we all know that just because it says on paper one should win, it does not always necessarily mean they should.
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I am talking about if Popa should or should not be coach. If the US botched those chances in the first half and we snuck a 0-0, would that really change how we judge him? It shouldn't. We we outplayed and outcoached. In the same way the first up result shouldn't either.
The first half v the US was not what was expected because he was outcoached, but adjusted for the second half. But the style, system, and overall performance has been exactly what you would expect from a Popa side.
 
Cunningstunt said:
I am talking about if Popa should or should not be coach. If the US botched those chances in the first half and we snuck a 0-0, would that really change how we judge him? It shouldn't. We we outplayed and outcoached. In the same way the first up result shouldn't either.
The first half v the US was not what was expected because he was outcoached, but adjusted for the second half. But the style, system, and overall performance has been exactly what you would expect from a Popa side.
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Yes it should. I think we tend to have this short term memory, where we only view things on 1 or 2 games. If we get to the next round, even the Round of 16, Popa definitely stays on, but can we actually say that we are playing good football?

Look at Cape Verde, Iran, New Zealand, Curacao...these teams are going out there and playing football, and they are getting some reward for it. Why are we playing negative football when we have the players to be more assertive?

Yes, it's what you expect from a Popa style, but that does not mean that he should be free of criticism because it's what you expect of him.
 
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